Copyright 2010 Conan L. Hom
I hope you've read and found useful my previous posts on price research: "Price variations on the internet - bigger than you think" (Jan 1, 2010) and "Buying things... even a little bit of price research can help" (March 2,2010).
I'm returning to the situation when a vendor sells the exact same product under different names. This is done to position the product in different markets (read: target consumers). The vendor hopes to sell the product at different prices according to how much the average consumer in each target group is willing to pay. This is a form of price discrimination. This name changing is bad news for you because it can interfere with your price comparison search: If you search for the product under one name, the places where it is listed under the other name(s) may not come up. The vendors probably love this - so much for economic efficient world of perfect information.
There's no guarantee that you'll be able to stumble upon all the possible names a product is sold under. If the amount at money at stake is small, it might not be worth doing an extensive search (e.g. searching under product categories, product function, etc.). However, if you are about to fork over some serious cash, and you do happen to chance upon two or more products that seem to do the same thing, check the product specifications, and try to see who makes products. Don't be afraid ask for the information you need. If the product specifications match and they turn out to be made by the same manufacturer, you might seriously consider going for the lower price
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Iowa Style Midwest BBQ at Jethro's
Jethro's BBQ
3100 Forest Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50311
(515) 279-3300
Accepts Credit Cards
Hrs:
M-F: 11 AM till late in the evening,
Sat and Sun: 9:30 AM till late in the evening.
Brunch Menu: Sat and Sun from 9:30 AM to 2 PM
Takeout and catering available, no reservations accepted.
http://www.jethrosdesmoines.com/
Located on the edge of the Drake University campus, Jethro's, with it's piping hot BBQ menu is a most welcome relief from the icy cold winter on the Iowan plains. While its menu is country themed, it has a lively big city sports bar atmosphere with a dozen HDTVs to watch your favorite games (no doubt in part to serve the student body of Drake University). The waitstaff greets you as if you have been a loyal patron for years, and the service is prompt.
The BBQ dinner combinations (served anytime of the day) are a great way to sample a wide selection of Jethro's cooking in a single meal. For a reasonable price of $21.95*, the Dinner for two option gets you 4 sides, and 4 meats in quantities that will still give you leftovers for another meal.
My favorite sides were the cornbread which is sweet but not too sweet and the apple sauce which has the delicious taste of a warm apple pie filling. As for Jethro's signature slow cooked meats, if it weren't for my stomach capacity, I'd still be there consuming the ribs, chicken, pulled pork and brisket. As if the tastiness of the meats weren't enough, Jethro's adds a taste-bud delighting selection of BBQ sauces to its arsenal. I personally recommend the Georgia Mustard and Jethro's Secret.
Jethro's is extremely popular with the locals (it has been voted best BBQ in Des Moines) so if you want to beat the weekday lunch crowd, try showing up just before noon after which the flood gates open.
*Prices as of March 2, 2010.
Copyright 2010 Conan L. Hom
3100 Forest Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50311
(515) 279-3300
Accepts Credit Cards
Hrs:
M-F: 11 AM till late in the evening,
Sat and Sun: 9:30 AM till late in the evening.
Brunch Menu: Sat and Sun from 9:30 AM to 2 PM
Takeout and catering available, no reservations accepted.
http://www.jethrosdesmoines.com/
Located on the edge of the Drake University campus, Jethro's, with it's piping hot BBQ menu is a most welcome relief from the icy cold winter on the Iowan plains. While its menu is country themed, it has a lively big city sports bar atmosphere with a dozen HDTVs to watch your favorite games (no doubt in part to serve the student body of Drake University). The waitstaff greets you as if you have been a loyal patron for years, and the service is prompt.The BBQ dinner combinations (served anytime of the day) are a great way to sample a wide selection of Jethro's cooking in a single meal. For a reasonable price of $21.95*, the Dinner for two option gets you 4 sides, and 4 meats in quantities that will still give you leftovers for another meal.
My favorite sides were the cornbread which is sweet but not too sweet and the apple sauce which has the delicious taste of a warm apple pie filling. As for Jethro's signature slow cooked meats, if it weren't for my stomach capacity, I'd still be there consuming the ribs, chicken, pulled pork and brisket. As if the tastiness of the meats weren't enough, Jethro's adds a taste-bud delighting selection of BBQ sauces to its arsenal. I personally recommend the Georgia Mustard and Jethro's Secret.
Jethro's is extremely popular with the locals (it has been voted best BBQ in Des Moines) so if you want to beat the weekday lunch crowd, try showing up just before noon after which the flood gates open.
*Prices as of March 2, 2010.
Copyright 2010 Conan L. Hom
Buying things... even a little bit of price research can help.
Copyright 2010 Conan L. Hom
When buying a product, even a little bit of price research might pay big dividends. As an example, in a previous article ("Price variations on the internet, bigger than you think" January 1, 2010), I found an electronic toothbrush being sold at $129.99 but then a quick online search of less than 3 minutes yielded the same toothbrush being sold from another reputable vendor for $99.99.
Here's another: In one eBay on-line store, buyers were bidding up the price of factory demo (i.e. used) Nikon D200 cameras. In almost every instance, they bid up the factory demos to several hundred dollars above the price of brand new D200s being sold directly through the same retailer's non-eBay online store. I called the retailer and his explanation was that some people felt they really needed to have a used camera instead of a brand new one. My explanation: people didn't do the research.
Markets aren't perfectly efficient otherwise such massive price differences would probably not exist.
Price research doesn't guarantee you'll get the best deal or that you'll always find the whopping savings. Also, at some point, the cost of additional research can outweigh the benefits - is it really worth it to spend 20 more hours to find a savings of 1 dollar? You be the judge.
However, even conducting basic price research will give you some peace of mind that you probably aren't getting the worst deal out there. Here are a few things to consider:
(1) The more money that is at stake, the more time you should spend on research. This is obvious for a high value item but people often overlook that a low cost item that you purchase many units of can be a huge amount too (e.g. a 5 cent price difference per unit x 2000 units = $100).
(2) Compare at least two (ideally more) vendors who are selling the product. The more vendors you can compare the better. If the amount of money at stake isn't trivial to you, you should definitely research the business record of the vendor you select (e.g. customer complaints, better business bureau records, etc.). How to research a vendor will be the focus of another article.
(3) Look to see if the product is sold in different markets (e.g. target customers, different physical locations, on-line vs. the internet). You may have to brainstorm a bit. A product could be priced differently depending on the market. Here's an example: 3M's Scotch Blue Painter's Tape (2" x 60 Yds) costs $10.99 when sold at Utrecht, a vendor that sells primarily to fine artists [1]. However, when the exact same tape is sold to construction workers, it costs $6.87 at Home Depot [2]. The poor artists are paying at least a 60% markup just because they are artists! I hope many of them think like construction workers.
(4) Sometimes the product is altered slightly and/or is sold under a different brand to fit into a different market even though the product is essentially the same: made by the same manufacturer with the same materials, same labor and same quality control. With these changes there may be associated changes in price also. At that point you'll have to use your own judgment if the branding or alterations are important to you. A friend of mine who was in the apparel industry told me that sometimes a manufacturer makes a whole set of identical clothes, puts one label on half of them and a different label on the other half. The first half goes to the high end stores (and is priced accordingly) and the second half goes to discount stores.
(5) If ordering on-line, by phone, or by catalog, compare the shipping and handling costs and product restocking fees (if there is a possibility you might need to return what you buy). Vendors use a wide variety of S+H formulas (e.g. value of product, weight, quantity, flat fee + weight) and because of that variety, shipping and handling costs may be different between vendors of the same product. It may be simpler to do your price comparisons on the total cost (product + shipping and handling).
Basic price research can often be done on-line - even if you eventually go to a brick and mortar store to make the purchase.
Sources: All website prices were accessed on March 2, 2010.
[1] Scotch Blue Painter's Tape at Utrecht
[2] Scotch Blue Painter's Tape at Home Depot
When buying a product, even a little bit of price research might pay big dividends. As an example, in a previous article ("Price variations on the internet, bigger than you think" January 1, 2010), I found an electronic toothbrush being sold at $129.99 but then a quick online search of less than 3 minutes yielded the same toothbrush being sold from another reputable vendor for $99.99.
Here's another: In one eBay on-line store, buyers were bidding up the price of factory demo (i.e. used) Nikon D200 cameras. In almost every instance, they bid up the factory demos to several hundred dollars above the price of brand new D200s being sold directly through the same retailer's non-eBay online store. I called the retailer and his explanation was that some people felt they really needed to have a used camera instead of a brand new one. My explanation: people didn't do the research.
Markets aren't perfectly efficient otherwise such massive price differences would probably not exist.
Price research doesn't guarantee you'll get the best deal or that you'll always find the whopping savings. Also, at some point, the cost of additional research can outweigh the benefits - is it really worth it to spend 20 more hours to find a savings of 1 dollar? You be the judge.
However, even conducting basic price research will give you some peace of mind that you probably aren't getting the worst deal out there. Here are a few things to consider:
(1) The more money that is at stake, the more time you should spend on research. This is obvious for a high value item but people often overlook that a low cost item that you purchase many units of can be a huge amount too (e.g. a 5 cent price difference per unit x 2000 units = $100).
(2) Compare at least two (ideally more) vendors who are selling the product. The more vendors you can compare the better. If the amount of money at stake isn't trivial to you, you should definitely research the business record of the vendor you select (e.g. customer complaints, better business bureau records, etc.). How to research a vendor will be the focus of another article.
(3) Look to see if the product is sold in different markets (e.g. target customers, different physical locations, on-line vs. the internet). You may have to brainstorm a bit. A product could be priced differently depending on the market. Here's an example: 3M's Scotch Blue Painter's Tape (2" x 60 Yds) costs $10.99 when sold at Utrecht, a vendor that sells primarily to fine artists [1]. However, when the exact same tape is sold to construction workers, it costs $6.87 at Home Depot [2]. The poor artists are paying at least a 60% markup just because they are artists! I hope many of them think like construction workers.
(4) Sometimes the product is altered slightly and/or is sold under a different brand to fit into a different market even though the product is essentially the same: made by the same manufacturer with the same materials, same labor and same quality control. With these changes there may be associated changes in price also. At that point you'll have to use your own judgment if the branding or alterations are important to you. A friend of mine who was in the apparel industry told me that sometimes a manufacturer makes a whole set of identical clothes, puts one label on half of them and a different label on the other half. The first half goes to the high end stores (and is priced accordingly) and the second half goes to discount stores.
(5) If ordering on-line, by phone, or by catalog, compare the shipping and handling costs and product restocking fees (if there is a possibility you might need to return what you buy). Vendors use a wide variety of S+H formulas (e.g. value of product, weight, quantity, flat fee + weight) and because of that variety, shipping and handling costs may be different between vendors of the same product. It may be simpler to do your price comparisons on the total cost (product + shipping and handling).
Basic price research can often be done on-line - even if you eventually go to a brick and mortar store to make the purchase.
Sources: All website prices were accessed on March 2, 2010.
[1] Scotch Blue Painter's Tape at Utrecht
[2] Scotch Blue Painter's Tape at Home Depot
Monday, March 1, 2010
Diner style eating at the Waveland Cafe (Des Moines, IA)
Waveland Cafe
4708 University Avenue
Des Moines, IA
(515) 279-4341
Accepts Credit Cards.
Hours: Open daily until 9PM.
There isn't an International House of Pancakes within the vicinity of University Ave and Polk Boulevard, and you can credit that to this diner style cafe. Founded in 1982, the Waveland has that hometown feel: dining counter, padded round seats along with regular patrons whom the waitstaff knows by name. Orders are still processed by pad and pen. It boasts locally made ingredients and breakfast served all day. Prices are reasonable considering the quantity: the Buttermilk Pancake Special gets you two eggs, a choice of meat and two pancakes that each fill the size of a dinner plate - all for $7.25 [1]. Be sure to try the Everything Hashbrowns dish which, unlike with normal humdrum hashbrowns, is filled with ham, vegetables and cheese and can be a meal in itself. Sandwiches and grill items are also available.
The waitstaff did make an error in filling my order (wrong pancake flavor). The service to fix it was prompt and courteous. I'm a firm believer in that how a person behaves after messing up speaks a lot about the service. I have no reason to believe that they make more than an occasional error (no one is perfect).
The Waveland doesn't pretend to be an institution of health-conscious eating but on the other hand your tastebuds will be in for a real treat - why not indulge once in a while? Saturday and Sunday morning brunch time are the most packed - be prepared to wait, it's worth it.
[1] Price as of January 24, 2010
Copyright 2010 Conan L. Hom
4708 University Avenue
Des Moines, IA
(515) 279-4341
Accepts Credit Cards.
Hours: Open daily until 9PM.
There isn't an International House of Pancakes within the vicinity of University Ave and Polk Boulevard, and you can credit that to this diner style cafe. Founded in 1982, the Waveland has that hometown feel: dining counter, padded round seats along with regular patrons whom the waitstaff knows by name. Orders are still processed by pad and pen. It boasts locally made ingredients and breakfast served all day. Prices are reasonable considering the quantity: the Buttermilk Pancake Special gets you two eggs, a choice of meat and two pancakes that each fill the size of a dinner plate - all for $7.25 [1]. Be sure to try the Everything Hashbrowns dish which, unlike with normal humdrum hashbrowns, is filled with ham, vegetables and cheese and can be a meal in itself. Sandwiches and grill items are also available.
The waitstaff did make an error in filling my order (wrong pancake flavor). The service to fix it was prompt and courteous. I'm a firm believer in that how a person behaves after messing up speaks a lot about the service. I have no reason to believe that they make more than an occasional error (no one is perfect).
The Waveland doesn't pretend to be an institution of health-conscious eating but on the other hand your tastebuds will be in for a real treat - why not indulge once in a while? Saturday and Sunday morning brunch time are the most packed - be prepared to wait, it's worth it.
[1] Price as of January 24, 2010
Copyright 2010 Conan L. Hom
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